Influencers Taking the World by Storm

Gabrielle Zita
gz628315@ohio.edu

Influencers have taken the social media world by storm. They have changed the way companies promote their products and the way consumers purchase those products. There are multiple types of influencers, so here is a look at a few:

Celebrities
Whether you are attending a professional sports game, watching a reality tv show, or listening to the radio, you are being influenced by someone of high importance. Celebrities can use their platforms to promote products, services, and organizations because many people look up to them without even realizing it. For example, Lebron James promotes Nike products. Many believe he is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. If you see Lebron wearing Nike shoes in an Instagram photo, you may think that contributes to his success, so you purchase a pair of Nikes as well. When a company works with celebrity influencers, it can be very beneficial because they are placing their product in front of millions of people, however, there is a downside as well. Celebrities are very expensive to work with and it can sometimes be difficult to get one to work with your product.


Vloggers
Blogging is something that has existed for many years. People can write about anything from what they did during their day to writing about a specific product they bought at Walmart. Vlogging is a newer concept that follows the same criteria as blogging but does it in video form. Many vloggers create YouTube channels where they post a new video every week, sometimes even every few days.  One of those prime examples of a successful vlogger is Jaclyn Hill. Hill is a makeup artist who got her own line of makeup through the popularity she gained from YouTube. In May of 2019, she received backlash when customers found mold and hair in her lipsticks. In June of 2019 she released a video on her YouTube channel apologizing for the issues in the products and offering a refund to those affected. The great part about vlogging is that 63% of people are more likely to buy a product if they see it in a video. This is great for a company because vloggers are a cheaper alternative to celebrity influencers. The negative of using a vlogger is that the person may not promote your product in the way that you want. Vloggers tend to be more honest when reviewing a product, so you may not get positive feedback.

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/celebrity-hair-makeup/a27879948/jaclyn-hill-lipstick/

Activists
With social media becoming a part of our daily lives, activists have turned to social platforms to generate more buzz for their causes. For example, the Instagram account bee_nfluencer has over 100K followers. They post about bee facts and ways we can make sure bees do not become endangered. Accounts like these can be an influencer if you are selling a product or service that directly correlates with their values. However, this can also be a very complex partnership. Activist influencers will not agree to work with products that even indirectly affect their cause. When wanting to work with an activist influencer, it is important to dig deep in making sure that what you are offering aligns with their goals and values before reaching out.

As you can see, there are many pros and cons when working with social media influencers. It is a great tool for companies to wanting to reach a massive audience, but it can sometimes hurt a company more than it can help.